N.Korea 'likely' to join Winter Games

First of all, Pyongyang should show its sincerity in its peace overture by its leader Kim Jong-un, who offered in his New Year address to hold a meeting to discuss the North's potential participation in the Winter Games to be held February 9 to 25 in the South.

After Kim asserted that he had a nuclear button at the ready, Trump last week dismissed the taunt by saying in a tweet that the US button at his disposal was bigger and more powerful.

If continued talks are predicated on a pause in the North's nuclear and long-range missile tests, they will have served a useful objective.

The person-to-person talks will be held January 9 - one day after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's birthday - at the Peace House, located on the South Korean side of the truce village of Panmunjom, located in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two nations, Baik said.

In fact, President Trump and his policymakers harbored skepticism about Kim's olive branch, given his brinksmanship over his nuclear and missile development programs. More recently, he had dismissed diplomatic efforts, even publicly chiding US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in October for "wasting his time" by pursing them.

North Korea and South Korea remain technically at war more than six decades after open hostilities ceased, with more than 30,000 American troops and the U.S. nuclear umbrella pledged to Seoul's defense.

In August, Trump vowed to unleash "fire and fury" if North Korea threatened the United States and on Tuesday warned Kim on Twitter that his nuclear button was "much bigger and more powerful".

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said in a new year speech that his country wished success for the Olympics and would consider sending a delegation

Haley said North Korea should be clear that the United States will not reduce pressure on Kim.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at a high point not seen in several years, as Trump wants Pyongyang to halt development of a nuclear weapon that could hit the United States, while the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) believes that having a nuclear weapon is the only way to defend its government from the United States.

But the new year has witnessed a marked softening of tone.

The Korean War ended in an armistice in 1953, meaning that the two nations are technically still at war. Trying to divine Kim's thinking from North Korean propaganda broadcasts is about as unrewarding as deconstructing Trump's tweets.

President Donald Trump and his South Korean counterpart, Moon Jae-in, announced Thursday that annual large-scale military drills would now take place after the Olympics.

US officials cautioned that the North's peace overture may be aimed at driving a wedge between Seoul and Washington and will weaken the global sanctions against the reclusive country.

The comments by Chang Ung, Pyongyang's representative to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), come a day after the North and South agreed to hold rare talks next week and follow Seoul and Washington's announcement that they would postpone joint military exercises that rile North Korea. If North Korea responds by suspending military tests, then the "dual suspension" will be in effect, which Russian Federation and China-and Lyndon and Helga LaRouche-say is required to move to negotiations for a durable settlement. -South Korea military exercises. "Talks for the sake of talks are meaningless".

Rain, cold - and more snow? Dramatic weather changes comingTravel will undeniably be quite hard late Friday night into Saturday morning with icy, slick surfaces and then accumulating snow. Tonight , however, the weather service says to expect a low of around 2 with cloudy conditions and a 30 percent chance of snow .